Israel 2013.
It is hard to grasp but a fifth of the households in Israel (18.7%) live in nutritional insecurity. According to National Security (“Bituach Leumi”) statistics, 111,111 poverty stricken families live in Israel, of them, 861,911 are children.
This unfathomable number of children gets up every morning to a gloomy and cloudy day, even when it’s nice out and the sun is shining. They go to school hungry, they have a hard time concentrating in class and they return home to find an empty refrigerator and a sad mother who doesn’t know howshe will feed her children.
The level of the studies drops dramatically and the young child whose entire future is ahead of him starts out his life at a very difficult and disadvantaged point. What a few sandwiches can do…
The ritual repeats itself all over again each morning. The day starts, the stomach is empty and mother is crying. Someone has to stop this. Someone has to get up and say “no more”. This is not how a state should be run, this is not the way to build our future generations and families cannot be abandoned like this.
“Notnim BeAhavah” say this.
Just like with a wide pipe, in “Notnim BeAhavah” the generous contributions given straight from the hearts of the people in Zion are channeled. Each and every shekel is collected and the donations accumulate. The money collected goes to building a world. The sandwich at the 10 am school meal-break, the hot meal given at lunch-time and the candy for Sabbath – are all much more than they appear to be. They save a generation; they build a world and turn a miserable child into a normal one.
How much does a schnitzel cost? Who can imagine the true benefit that is embodied in the donation of a schnitzel: the hungry child returns home from school and eats heartedly, thanks to “Notnim BeAhavah”. After his meal he is able to do his homework, he does well on his exam and the entire picture changes. Everything that he will achieve in the future is in thanks to the schnitzel he ate for lunch. Thanks to those who donated the schnitzel. Thanks to you!
We didn’t even mention the peace and quiet that prevails at home. The home is transformed from being unhappy and miserable to a home that is lit. One package of food supplies for one week puts a home “on its feet” and saves itand it is all in thanks to you.
Who receives the help basket of “Notnim BeAhavah”? Who doesn’t! The elderly, single-parent families, Holocaust survivors, the ill, as well as normative people who do all they can to provide their home. “Notnim BeAhavah” is also there for them; there in your place.
A special department in our organization helps and deals with people whose world turned upside down and who’ve lost their assets. They are conducted with very high sensitivity; in silk gloves. They are apprehensive of their image and appearance and so our volunteers handle this accordingly, no one knows and no one sees.
Every month, hundreds of families receive generous help and assistance from the “Notnim BeAhavah” volunteers. With your help we will be able to leverage this amazing activity and touch the hearts of one hundred additional needy families of all walks of life.
Our cars are not logo-branded, neither are our packages. The goal of “Notnim BeAhavah” is to provide help from the heart and the activity is carried out in a manner that respects the aided individuals to the utmost extent. Discreetly, quietly and with a very big smile.
The classification level in the office is very high. The home addresses of the supported families and individuals are not available for all to see. The privacy and respect of the individual are the cornerstone of our activity. The large giving chain of “Notnim BeAhavah” works thoroughly and confidentially and manages in rehabilitating more and more families.
This doesn’t end with just food however. We, at the organization, don’t just supply the fish but also the fishing rod, as well as teach how to fish. A special department in the organization is dedicated to the vocational training of dozens of people in order to break their cycle of poverty and their state of misery of having to be supported. Following the training, the department also takes care of their placement in the workplace. There is no bigger satisfaction than seeing a former supported individual become a working, breadwinner individual.
Youth at risk also found its place in the organization. Undertaken lessons and initiated activities, with the accompanying support of a social worker and welfare services, operate in 8 locations all over the country. The activity takes place in parallel to the reinforcement of the home. Thus, the family unit becomes the fundamental base, giving the youth self-confidence, social skills and safe place to come to. Here, too, we take deprived youth and turn them into the salt of the earth.
We invite and encourage you to join us, to realize accountability and to take sponsorship of a boy, a girl, a family. To help us make Israel become a better place and a place of greater equality. To give families light and joy. We invite you with love; together we will love everyone.